deduction

In Sleuth, a classic deduction game from master designer Sid Sackson originally released as part of the 3M Gamette Series, players are searching for a hidden gem, one of 36 gem cards hidden before the start of the game. The remainder of this gem deck – with each card showing 1-3 diamonds, pearls or opals in one of four colors – is distributed evenly among the players, with any remaining cards laid face up. Thus, you and everyone else starts with some information about what's not missing.

A second deck contains 54 search cards, each showing one or two elements, such as diamonds, pairs, blue opals, red pearls, or an element of your choice. Each player receives four face-up search cards; on a turn, you choose one of those cards and ask an opponent how many gem cards they have of the type shown. If you ask for, say, pairs, the player must tell you how many pairs they hold but not which specific pairs; if you ask for something more specific, say, red diamonds, the player reveals to everyone how many such cards she holds while you get to look at them in secret.

Players track information on a score pad. You can guess the hidden gem at any time, or on your turn you can ask any one question regardless of which search cards you have, then immediately make a guess by marking your sheet and checking the hidden gem card. If you're wrong, you keep playing but can only answer questions; if you're correct, you win.

The simplicity of the rules and the cards belies the complexity of the game. In some cases you see cards, while in others you hear only the number of cards that an opponent holds, making it tough to deduce. Any notation system you devise must be both flexible and reliable, recording negative information as well as positive in order to tick off the possibilities one by one...

Reimplements:

The Case of the Elusive Assassin, with the core mechanisms of that game being used in Sleuth, minus the game board, movement and player proximity.

Description from the publisher:

Destination X is a different kind of game experience: One player takes the moderator role as a spy on the run, while the remaining players are detectives who must cooperate and use their deductive skills and geographical knowledge to track down the spy and identify their secret destination.

At the beginning of each round, six destination cards are placed face up on the table. The spy secretly chooses one of the destinations, and flips to the chosen country's page in the handbook. Each detective is given three informant cards, and in turn each detective must play an informant to get information about the spy's secret destination. The spy must find the relevant information in the handbook and answer truthfully. The informants may provide information on various aspects such as population, industry, religion, history, economy, and so on. After a detective has played an informant, the detective must also eliminate one of the destinations on the table.

At any time, the detectives can decide to guess on the spy's destination. If they guess correctly, the detectives win the round; otherwise the spy wins. The spy also wins if the detectives run out of informant cards, so the detectives must manage their resources well and not spend too much time or else the spy will manage to get away. The first side to win three rounds wins the game.

No prior geographic knowledge is needed to play. Since Destination X is a team-based game, it can be played in groups of any number of players.

The mystery face game where you flip over a collection of faces with different color hair, eye color, hair, hats, glasses etc. to deduce who the secret person is that your opponent has chosen. You flip over the hooked tiles as you narrow your choices by asking characteristic questions.

Awards

1989 Årets Børnespil, Childrens Game of the Year Denmark

Atlas: Enchanted Lands is an elegant card game set in a world of fairies and magic. Play cards to reveal a certain place and time — and place your stake in one of the two. Explore a location at dawn, day, sunset, and night, or see what the whole land looks like in the dark. Each card offers two choices, and it's up to you to uncover the world that awaits.

In more detail, players are challenged to predict the time or place that will be uncovered first. Cards laid on the board will complete sets. Depending on the cards chosen by the players, sets of similar cards or numerically ascending cards will be revealed, granting points to the players that deduced the correct combination.

Macabre detection in the worlds of H.P. Lovecraft

Welcome to H.P. Lovecraft’s Arkham, the 1920s. There will be many mysteries to uncover in this storytelling game of Lovecraftian terror. Using the provided newspaper, a list of allies, the directory of Arkham residents and a map of Arkham - your job is to follow the clues from location to location, suspect to suspect - to unravel the mystery and answer the questions posed at the end of each scenario.

Your score will depend upon the number of clues points you needed to visit, the risks you took to your sanity in your investigations and your ability to find the correct answers to the questions.

Match wits with Armitage's final score the man who has been exposed to the sanity-blasting truth about the existence of the age old evil! Can you beat his score?

With that in mind it is time to collaborate with Armitage’s investigations to complete your training. This is not a typical board game: No dice, no luck, but a challenge to your mental ability.

The cases that appear in print edition are:

Case 1 - A Grain of Evil
Case 2 - Flesh and Blood
Case 3 - The King Cometh
Case 4 - The Slumbering Solace
Case 5 - The Serpent's Vengeance
Case 6 - The Star of Tokelau
Case 7 - The Vanished Girl
Case 8 - Pasquel's Wager